Suspected Police officers must be interdicted: Joint Opposition

By Chamodi Gunawardana

The Joint Opposition yesterday claimed that the Government should interdict the suspected police personnel who beat students of the Higher National Diploma in Accountancy (HNDA) at Ward Place last week.

The National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader and MP Wimal Weerawansa stressed that if the Government condemned the incident such action must be taken to prove its stance.

“Photographic evidence clearly shows how HNDA students were beaten by the Police but no action has been taken against the suspects,” he charged.

Weerawansa also alleged that the Parliament had no room for the expression of the Joint Opposition’s opinion regarding this matter.

“The Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader and the Chief Organiser of the Opposition were conducting Parliamentary debates in a dramatic manner. When the Opposition raises questions, the Premier provides answers after consulting the rest,” he claimed.

The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) Leader and MP Dinesh Gunawardena added that the Speaker has reduced the time given to the Joint Opposition to address the House in a bid to suppress its voice.

“When we were about to raise the Opposition views on the HNDA clash, the Speaker announced that he cannot give much time to us. The Prime Minister continuously interrupted the debate and said there was no such Joint Opposition in the House,” he alleged.

“Eventually the good governance lost its mask of so-called democracy,” Gunawardena further claimed.

The Democratic Left Front (DLF) General Secretary and MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara stressed that the Government should pay compensation to those beaten students.

“The Police Spokesman justified the attack in public. It indicated that the Government does not have any regrets about the clash. We believe the Government and the Police Commission should publicly apologise to those students,” he asserted.

Joint Opposition urges Govt to increase scholarship admissions

Former Minister and MP Bandula Gunawardena urged the Government to increase the amount of admissions to grade six through the Grade Five Scholarship Examination up to 25,000.

He said the past Government allowed 25,000 scholarship students to enter a new school while their monthly allowance increased from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,500.

“The good governance Government pledged to allocate 6% for education via the budget, but it reduced the amount of admissions from 25,000 to 15,000. We urge it to implement its promises through the upcoming budget.”